Bait, Chapter 14.
Sora gripped Riku's hand defensively. There was an unwavering defiance in his face.
"No. I won't make him endure this alone, especially if it leads to pain. You'd have to knock me out first!"
"I'm staying too!" Kairi piped in. "You could start torturing him right now and it would hurt me worse to abandon him when he needs us. He was there when we needed him!"
Those words stirred up several memories in Sora. Memories of how Riku had nearly given up his heart to try to save Kairi (though Sora ultimately did give up his), of him staying in darkness to help them seal the door, of Riku taking a nearly lethal blow for him, and of him diving into a black abyss to save Sora's heart from the cursed dream the Organization had put Sora under- the same Organization that had put Riku in this state.
Riku stirred and called out Sora's name in an almost inaudible voice. Sora felt Riku's hand twitch in his. He was trying to get a firmer grip on Sora's hand, he could tell, but the older boy was slowly getting weaker. Whatever improvement Sora had noticed earlier had died off, as though something had began to eat away at Riku's life force.
"Please!" Sora looked on the verge of tears. "He needs all of our support, you said that yourself!"
"We need to hurry master!" Mickey interjected. "Whether there's a blade fragment in his body or not, something's going wrong, Riku needs treatment, he's gotten weaker while this altercation went on, just let them stay!"
"Very well, but don't try to interfere, no matter what you witness. Got it?" The two nodded in agreement. Sora released Riku's hand and backed away so he could give Yen Sid space to work. The old wizard could hear the soft utterance made just before he left his side.
"Hold on just a little longer Riku... stay strong."
Yen Sid unwound the bandages from Riku's chest and carefully removed the packing, Riku hissing in pain as the rough gauze grazed the raw flesh in his wound. Sora immediately wished he'd looked away from the grisly sight it produced. Blood quickly pooled up in the wound and flowed off the boy's chest, soaking into the sheets where it left a dark stain. It was far too much blood for a wound that was supposed to be several days old.
Mickey rushed to his side with a cry of grief.
"So that's what's made him weaker- the wound was hemorrhaging. He's lost far too much blood!" he exclaimed, taking a hand to the pulse point in Riku's wrist, feeling intently for any change in the boy's vitals.
"Riku!" Kairi had buried her face in Sora's shoulder, where he could hear her begin to cry softly. He wrapped his arms around the frightened girl, rubbing her back soothingly.
Yen Sid summoned a mass of swirling magic into his palm. It was almost invisible, save for the way it seemed to make anything around it ripple. He held his palm over the still bleeding wound on Riku's chest, holding his full focus over the area, trying to detect any change in his magic or his young charge's behavior.
Nothing happened. Yen Sid did the same thing over the area surrounding the wound, getting the same result. He was ready to extinguish his magic when suddenly an arc of concentrated magnetic energy formed between them, nearly causing Yen Sid to jump in surprise. Riku's body jerked violently, a horrible choking cry escaped from his lips. The face of everyone present fell.
"You poor child..." Yen Sid said sadly. "So the shard was in your body all along." He made to withdraw his magic and prepare Riku for the ordeal of extracting the shard, when Mickey suddenly spoke up.
"Don't withdraw your magic yet, Master!" The mouse said. "Maybe the magnetic force can draw the shard out on its own. If we can do that, it will lead to as little damage as possible. A full blown surgery could kill him in his current state!"
The aged wizard nodded, still intent on the child lying below him. Riku arched his back and writhed, his body jerking every time the shard moved inside him, he was struggling to escape the source of his pain, but Yen Sid would not release him. Agonized cries quickly turned into violent coughing fits, and to Sora's horror- he started choking up blood. The shard must have pierced his lung by this point.
Kairi buried herself deeper into Sora's shoulder. Sora had stopped trying to comfort the girl, instead staring wide-eyed at the horrible sight before him, wanting to look away, but unable to. It wouldn't matter anyways, as the ordeal was beginning to invade Sora's other senses as well. He could still make out the faint hum of Yen Sid's magic, though it was nearly drowned out by Riku's screaming. He could make out the acrid metallic scent of blood on the air. He could feel the thick tension that was beginning to fill the air as everyone who was not actively involved in the procedure looked on helplessly.
Minutes dragged on, yet Yen Sid's efforts continued to prove fruitless. It was becoming evident that the ordeal was taking it's toll on both Yen Sid and Riku. The old wizard staggered briefly, quickly righting himself as he returned focus to his magic. Riku's outcries and reactions were getting weaker and less frequent.
Mickey, who still had his hand closed around the boy's wrist, gave a sudden cry of urgency.
"His pulse is dangerously high! If we keep stressing his body like this, we'll lose him!"
"Very well... if nothing happens soon... I'll stop... we'll try the excision... as soon as he's strong enough..." The wizard said between breaths. He was clearly running out of energy.
"Something's happening!" Sora suddenly exclaimed as he saw Riku begin to cry out and writhe with a new found intensity.
He let out an especially loud shriek as a pointed fragment emerged from his chest, drawn out by the force of the magic. The sight was one that would remain in the darkest portions of Sora's memories. It looked alive, slowly wriggling itself free from his best friend's body, as though it was putting up a fight to remain inside it's host. But Riku was no longer struggling. He had let out a final choking cry and collapsed into his pillows, where he remained quite still.
Yen Sid released his magic and seized the fragment as soon as it tore itself from Riku's flesh. The shard continued to emit it's dark, draining magic. He could feel it trying to eat away what little mana he had left. Disgusted, Yen Sid threw the shard onto a cloth that sat waiting on the nightstand.
"RIKU!" Sora had run to the boy's side as soon as everything was over. He had gone an awful shade of white and was completely unresponsive. Sora shouted Riku's name repeatedly and shook him with increasing roughness as each previous attempt to rouse him ended in failure. He held his head against his best friend's chest, listening for any sign of life, when he suddenly shouted out in terror.
"His heart stopped! Master, please help him!" Sora looked up st Yen Sid pleadingly. A sad but determined glance met his as the old man steadied himself and walked to them.
He laid both hands on Riku's chest, directly over his heart, and called forth a powerful wave of curaga magic. The glow seemed to pulsate in its intensity, and Sora realized Yen Sid was purposefully making it do so to mimic the beat of a heart.
But something seemed off. Curaga usually had this effect of being absorbed by it's targets body, but the glow of this spell seemed to just sit on top of his skin and not be absorbed, as though it was being cast on an empty shell.
"Come on, Riku, come back to us!" Sora held his hand and whispered pleadingly to him. Yet there seemed to be no change. Kairi had started crying again, her soft sobs could be heard from across the room, Mickey had taken over the job of comforting her and had her in a gentle embrace. Sora lowered his head in grief. He was more than sure that he had lost Riku again, this time for good. A single tear ran down the younger boys face.
"Riku...I'm so sorry..." Sora's tears quickly turning to soft sobs of grief.
Yen Sid extinguished his magic. Suddenly a soft gasp broke the silence. It was so soft it was nearly missed by Sora's ears, but he overlooked it anyways, certain his ears were playing tricks on him.
"Sora?" The voice was softer than the gasp he heard earlier, and sounded raspy with fatigue. He looked up slightly. Riku was still pale, but he could see some color had returned to his face. He could feel the older boy's hand tighten around his. His eyes opened slightly, slivers of deep cyan just visible under thick, dark eyelashes.
"Why are you crying Sora?" Riku asked in a weak but concerned voice. "Are you ok?"
"RIKU!" Sora had nearly forgotten the hellish procedure Riku had just been though when he lifted and held him in a tight embrace. He heard Riku cry out in pain and felt something damp against his skin, realizing with alarm that Riku was still bleeding, and a lot.
Yen Sid had noticed this too and quickly separated the two and had Riku lie down again so he could heal the wound properly. Curaga would stop the bleeding, but the wound was so deep that Riku needed stitches to allow it to heal completely. The process was painful for him, but not nearly as unbearable as what he had just been through.
Sora kept a firm grip on his hand the whole time, the younger boy's presence served to calm him and make him forget his suffering for a while.
Riku had actually fallen asleep again by the time Yen Sid had bandaged the wound, after applying another drop of the painkilling medicine he had given him that night in the gummi ship. He instructed Sora and Kairi to find him quickly if there were any more complications, as he knew they would not leave his side any time soon. He then left the trio alone to look after each other, completely confident in the bond the three of them shared.
End of Chapter 14.